There’s no cure-all trick to lower traffic costs, so your only option is to increase the value of the leads you’re already getting. Marketers need a scalable funnel to locate and prioritize the high-value customers that are hidden in their lead flow. Here’s how:

1. Find what characteristics your highest paying customers all have in common

Make a list of your top-tier customers. What are the 1-2 things they all share, which set them apart from your average lead? Is it company size? Job title? Budget?

Now take a piece of paper, and write down 1-2 Yes/No identifying questions — one for each unique characteristic.

2. Embed these questions as checkboxes in your lead acquisition form

The Yes/No format is absolutely critical because it allows you to find high-value leads without adding friction to your funnel.

Automatically segment out the high-quality leads from your customized acquisition form →

Instead of starting with “Hey! Want to chat?” open with “Quick question, are you X or Y?” ie. are you a consultant or a marketing agency? And give them button response options: Yes I’m X, Yes I’m Y, or No I’m neither.

This first question triggers a sequence directing them towards the product that will best serve them. If they say neither, then just respond with “no problem, we’re here if you need help!” →

2. If they respond X or Y, follow up with a 4-question automated sequence

1) Tell me more?

Ie. “That’s great! Are you just getting started or have you been at this for a while?”

Have 2 automated responses depending on how they answer, and set keyword triggers for each response

2) What brought you here today?

Ie. “What are your goals: X, Y, or Z?”

List 3 common goals, plus “all of the above” and “not sure”

Then follow up with, ”That’s great! We can definitely help with that. Do you want to see <<insert product here>>?”

3) What do you know about us?

At this question, your sales rep NEEDS to step in. If they are a qualified lead and have made it this far, a human now takes charge to close the deal

Based on whatever they say, your sales rep should lead them to:

4) Want some help with that?

Remember to customize these automated sequences to the content of the page the chatbot appears on. Ask yourself: What does the content tell you about the person reading it, and how can you customize your chatbot to reflect that?

3. Make human interaction your priority with a new metric: CPC — cost per conversation

Make no mistake, this will be expensive. You can drive CPC down by putting these bot sequences in bottom-of-funnel content, such as thankyou or pricing pages. Or you can set them to appear on your homepage only after a certain number of visits from the user.

If you want to automate everything, that’s fine. But your competitor won't, and you’ll fall behind. The future belongs to companies willing to invest in human-human interaction, on both your site and social media →

This is not a new or revolutionary idea, but it’s often overlooked. Don’t bother posting general information; set yourself apart by delivering a specific answer to specific questions.

1. Create 10 short videos answering the top 10 questions in your industry

Compile a list of the 20 top customer questions. Then pick 10, and record 2-3 minute videos answering each one in absolute terms. It may not be the full answer, but it doesn’t need to be. Viewers need to leave feeling like they have an ANSWER, not more questions.